ABSTRACT
RNA interference (RNAi) has just made it through the pipeline to clinical trials. More studies aiming to translate RNAi toward an ideal therapeutic tool are speeding ahead. However, in order for RNAi to serve as personalized therapeutics and be approved clinically, safe, specific, potent and flexible strategies must be devised for efficient delivery of RNAi payloads to specific cell types. Despite the immense potential, exogenous systemically applied RNAi remains a challenge, particularly the delivery to hematopoietic cells. This chapter describes the current systemic RNAi delivery platforms targeted to leukocytes, with a focus on the integrin-targeted and stabilized nanoparticles (I-tsNPs) strategy, which uses leukocyte integrins for the delivery of siRNAs exclusively to cells of the immune system.
